"Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites seethed with resentment from people who said they had been unable to change bolívares, the local currency, because of government limits on the amount of dollars that can be bought at the official, fixed rate.

"Exchange controls adopted in 2003 to reduce capital flight oblige Venezuelans to navigate a state agency called CADIVI which is notorious for delays, corruption and capping individual allowances at $3,000 (£1,911) a year. Those with inside connections get extra greenbacks, those without must take their chance on an illegal parallel market which charges double for dollars.

We spoke to Sarah Grainger, a freelance journalist in Venezuela. She said the president has not said anything about the photograph, yet, even though during the past few weeks, Chávez has been on the air more often. Chávez has been recovering from cancer and hasn't been his usual talkative self, said Grainger.

Now, the big question is how this might affect Chávez during an election year. Grainger says this will be scrutinized, though she said something like this will not make a difference to his hardcore supporters or Chavistas.

Grainger said one of the images that appeared online shows one person holding four bottles of cooking oil, which in Venezuela has become scarce.

That photo was posted by Alberto Manrique, a Venezuelan blogger, who today kept working the thread. He pointed to Rosinés' Instragram feed and it shows a girl with a fondness for American culture. She has pictures of teen star Justin Bieber and of country star Taylor Swift.

Manrique points to a recent picture she uploaded that shows an iPad with a picture of the Hollywood heartthrob Robert Pattinson.

"I want to be son of the president," Manrique tweeted. "I don't even have an iPad."

Of course, all of this is a big deal because her father is known to rail against imperialism and capitalism. So a daughter with access to dollars and American luxuries smacks of hypocrisy.

Perhaps Juan Forero, at The Washington Post, put it best: "Rosines's picture, for many Venezuelans, highlights the parallel system at work: easy access for those close to Chavez, restrictions for those with no connections."

Update Jan. 27 at 9:54 a.m. ET.: Since we published this piece, Rosinés' Instagram feed has been made private.

Correction at 4:19 p.m. ET.: Earlier we called Justin Bieber American. He is in fact Canadian.